(London)Derry
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Derry/Londonderry - a city amidst the troubles in Northern Ireland

(London)Derry was always at the centre of the troubles in Northern Ireland. The following press article has been taken from the online edition of the Neue Züricher Zeitung published in November 2000. Together with the lyric on the right they provide a powerful picture of this city today.

How London became a prefix for Derry.

A focal point of the Troubles in Northern Ireland on its way back to normalcy

Derry or Londonderry: In Northern Ireland it's close to heartening when the main focus of argument in this the second largest city in Ulster moves almost entirely to its name. The City's population are keen to put the Troubles behind them. The renovation and building of new houses would also seem to suggest a return to normal.

[By our UK correspondent Peter Gaupp]

Most readers usually ignore the name of the place at the top of a newspaper. Not so in Northern Ireland, where it forms a political statement. Many of Northern Ireland's Catholic, Nationalist and Republican readers would have ignored this text, regarding the author of the article as being sympathetic to the loyalist or Unionist cause. If the name "Derry", on the other hand, were to stand at the top of the page the reaction would be the exact opposite. The name of this, the second largest city in Ulster, has become a political issue (see box). And even if, as a foreign journalist, I decided simply to stick to the official version, this does not ease my sense of discomfort. I have decided to use the shortened version for the rest of this article; because it's easier rather than party political.

Development into a tourist attraction

Bogside and Bloody Sunday - are two words that have come to characterize Derry as one of the focal points of the Troubles that have raged here over the past few decades. They are also two words that are likely to make people only half-interested in the conflicts in Northern Ireland sit up. Those visiting the city now on a normal working day, however, will find a bustling city with a population of around 100,000. Unsuspecting visitors are likely to see little that would suggest the violence of Derry's recent past, that is, were it not for a few strange remnants in the townscape. At the most southwestern point of the old town, a towering army watchtower provides stark contrast to the Columbia Cathedral. Apparently blind and inconspicuous, this tower is actually a high-tech monitoring post that looks down and over the Catholic Bogside area of Derry. Down below on the outskirts of the Bogside, which, during the 70s, was even a no-go area for the army, stand the desolate remains of a house. One of its walls is daubed with a bright demonstration of power which reads: "You Are Now Entering Free Derry". It is repainted on a regular basis.

The latest travel guides include this "Free Derry Monument" as one of the city's many tourist attractions. The largest attraction, however, remains the one-and-a-half kilometer long city wall that surrounds the old town and which can be traveled by foot. Those wanting to enjoy a stroll here a few years ago were prevented from doing so by heavy metal gates. These gates still exist but they have been open since 1995. On our way along the wall we disturb a young teenage couple in one of the idyllic passages.

Colony of the city of London

Derry became Londonderry almost 400 years ago with the building of the city wall. Until this point the prominent rocky hill situated in an arch formed by the River Foyle had been home to little more than settlement of monasteries since the 6th century. This settlement was destroyed in 1567 during a battle between the Irish and the occupying English. In 1609 James I of England decided to make this part of Ulster an English colony in order to suppress continued rebellion. The City of London was commissioned with the so-called plantation project. London's guilds and organizations were responsible for financing and founded the Irish Society, which still owns property and rights in Derry and which uses its proceeds for charitable causes. It was these London City Guilds that renamed the county Londonderry.

The Town I Loved So Well

 

In my memory I will always see
the town that I have loved so well.
After school played ball
by the gasyard wall
and we laughed through the smoke
and the smell.
Going home in the rain
running up the dark lane
past the jail and down behind the fountain.
Those were happy days
in so many many ways
in the town I loved so well.

 

In the early morning
the shirt factory horn
called women from the Creggan,
the Moor and the Bog
while the men on the dole
played the mother´s role
fed the children and then trained the dog.
And when times got tough
there was just about enough
but they saw it through without complaining.
For deep inside
was a burning pride
in the town I loved so well.

 

There was music there in the Derry air
like a language that we all
could understand.
I remember the day
that I earned my first pay
when I played in a small pick up band.
There I spent my youth
and to tell you the truth,
I was sad to leave it all behind me.
For I´d learnt about life
and I´d found a wife
in the town I loved so well.

 

But when I returned
how my eyes have burnt
to see how a town could be brought
to its knees
by the armed cars
and the bombed out bars
and the gas that hangs on
to every breeze.
Now the army´s installed
by that old gasyard wall
and the damned barbed wire
gets higher and higher.
With their tanks and their guns
oh my God what have they done
to the town I loved so well.

 

Now the music´s gone
but they carry on
for their spirit´s been bruised
never broken.
They will not forget
but their hearts are set
on tomorrow and peace once again.
For what´s done is done
and what´s won is won
and what´s lost is lost and gone forever.
I can only pray
for a bright brandnew day
in the town I love so well.

Derry's city wall was completed in 1619 and Derry slowly filled with houses and residents. The city plan is typical for a newly founded town: A square-shaped layout with the main square in the centre of town, called Diamond, from which the four main streets lead out at right angles to the four main gates. In 1640 Derry boasted 500 adult men, hardly enough to defend this fortress town, yet with a population the same size as another British colony in Boston, which was to develop quite differently.

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The key event of 1689

In 1688/89 the event took place that was to provide Derry with its key importance for Northern Ireland's Unionists: The Great Siege. The background for the siege can be found in the struggles for the city between the deposed Catholic James II and Protestant dual-rule under William III and Mary II. Derry refused to act as a garrison for James and on 10th December, 13 quick-thinking young men closed the East gate in front of the the advancing Catholic troops. Most of Coleraine's population and many rural folk took refuge from James II troops in the city behind the walls. By the time the siege began on 21st April 1689, Derry's original population, civilians and soldiers, of 2,500 had swollen to twelve times that number.

The city was cut off for three months. Hunger, illness and armed conflict killed around 3,000 soldiers and 7,000 civilians. The conditions for the city's capitulation were etched onto a granite shell and fired over the city walls, but were rejected by those under siege. On the 28th of July, Protestant ships broke through the barrage on the Foyle. The Catholic army, which had also lost 8,000 men, withdrew on the 1st of August. At the battle of the Boyne, a year later, a decisive victory was scored over the Catholic army.

The walls of Derry are the only ones to have withstood not only this siege but all attacks that occurred before and subsequently: This has led to the city being nicknamed "The Maiden City". For Northern Ireland's protestants, in particular, the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys, who get their name from the young men closing the city's gates in face of the advancing Catholics, the events of 1689 are legendary; they still create a sort of siege mentality today, which the Unionists are finding hard to let go even following the Good Friday Agreement.

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Linen, emigration, war escorts

With the exception of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, Derry's subsequent history has been more peaceful. The town, like the rest of Ulster, profited from the linen business during the 18th century, from which an entire mainly shirt-exporting industry grew during the 19th century following the introduction of steam power. Shipbuilding and whiskey production formed secondary industries. Derry's seaport became increasingly important. The main cargo on its way to America, however, was formed by hundreds and thousands of emigrants. Ships returning from America and belonging to local shipping companies were loaded with timber and wheat. Thanks to its commercial importance, Derry continued to grow during the 19th century as the rest of Ireland shrunk.

Indeed, it is perhaps for this reason that Derry did not play a major role in the struggle for Irish independence. Although Catholics formed the majority of the population, Derry became part of the British Ulster province rather than joining the new free Ireland. During the Second World War the south of Ireland remained neutral, but Derry played a key role. Out of the German Luftwaffe's range, Derry's harbor provided shelter for up to 200 warships. Derry was also the main base for the Atlantic Convoys and U-boat hunters took off from neighboring airfields. On entering the war, the Americans established their first European base and most important radio station in Derry. Derry boomed, often to the dislike of those trying to maintain a sense of dignity in the city. Thousands of seamen of all nationalities created a lively nightlife and made sure that the women of Derry didn't take the city's nickname all too seriously.

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Bloody Sunday and its consequences

In 1920, during an election under proportional representation, the Catholics managed to form the majority in the City Council. This process of proportional representation soon disappeared following the partition of the island of Ireland. By introducing the first-past-the-post system and barefaced manipulation of constituency boundaries, Protestants were able to ensure they became the majority. The results of the 1967 elections produced 12 Unionist councilors from 8,781 Protestant voters and 8 Nationalist councilors from 14,429 Catholic voters. The newly formed Catholic civil rights movement made its presence known. Efforts at conciliation were short lived and the conflict escalated. The radical republican wing began to have influence among the Catholic population. The Bogside was declared Free Derry. The arrival of British troops in August 1969 was greeted with relief by the majority of Catholics. Two years later, however, on the 30th of January 1972, British Paratroopers, brought into Derry to provide support in suppressing nationalist demonstrations, shot and killed 14 unarmed civilians.

The events that took place on Bloody Sunday provided the Irish Republican Army (IRA) with a flood of volunteers. Because the first investigation into the events surrounding the killing of 14 unarmed civilians during the 70s managed to cover up more than it it unearthed, a second investigation was started in 1998, which should firm up in detail many of the already known facts. The official hearing has been taking place since the end of March in the Guild Hall, a place steeped in tradition and bombed by the IRA in 1972. This tortuous investigation is hardly likely to result in those responsible being brought to book after three decades of error and cover up; it is intended to help clear the air and help Northern Ireland's Catholic population to embrace the new-look Northern Ireland.

At the end of the 80s, quite a long time before the peace negotiations and the Good Friday Agreement, both sections of Derry's community managed to conduct their political differences in a more civilized way. In the City Council, which carries the official name of Derry City Council (an intended contradiction to the city's name), executive duties are carried out by both Catholics and Protestants and the office of Lord Mayor is alternated between the two faiths. The current Lord Mayor is a Sinn Fein politician. Set against this atmosphere, the annual marches of the Apprentice Boys in the last few years have attracted little violence - in contrast to those held by the Orange Order in Portadown.

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Renaissance City

Economic growth has always led to improved political relations. Supported by Irish-American capital and the arrival of American companies such as Du Pont and Seagate, economic growth began in 1988 and is reflected today by many new buildings both in the old town and especially along the banks of the River Foyle. A new and deeper harbor was opened in 1993 and was followed by an extension to the City of Derry airport in 1994. A bypass also crosses the Foyle over a long road bridge. The then largest shopping centre in Northern Ireland was opened in 1995, Foyleside. The Millennium Complex with theatre and art gallery is being built inside the East Wall. The City Council moved into its new generously proportioned buildings in 1996. Visitors are invited to find out more about Derry's history in the Tower Museum situated in the northwestern corner of the old town; it has received a number of awards for its lively and informative presentation.

A great deal has changed in a city that, in 1981, was forced to face the fact that a third of its centre had either been destroyed by bombs or left to deteriorate for fear of violence and terror. The Inner City Trust has been helping to provide funds for the restoration work. Despite all the signs of renaissance, however, a great deal remains to be done. This is reflected in the fact that Derry, despite its above-average growth of jobs during the past decade, still has average unemployment running at 9.9 percent in September 1999 - considerably higher than the average for Ulster (6.4 percent). It is also regrettable that the Troubles have led to a Catholic - Protestant split in its community - something that is mirrored across Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, it is significant that the conflict in this renaissance city is centered mainly around its name rather than around terrorism and violence as in Belfast and South Armagh.

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«Stroke City»

pgp. The name of a city as a political issue: Those approaching the city by car are met by numerous signs on which the name London has been sprayed over or removed by Nationalists. To counter this, the word Derry has often suffered a similar fate at the hands of Loyalists. The Gaelic meaning of Derry is oak grove - a seemingly innocent name.

Before the Troubles broke out and in the days when 'Derry' or 'Londonderry' had no political meaning, Catholics and Protestants alike used the short form without thought. Since the Troubles, radio presenters have had to tread carefully in order not to upset either side of the community. Many of them solve this problem in politically correct way by announcing the city as "Derry stroke Londonderry". This has led to the city being ironically referred to as "stroke city".

[Translated from: Peter Gaupp, Neue Züricher Zeitung online, www.nzz.ch, 20. November 2000]

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This online service on the subject of political education was developed by agora-wissen, the Stuttgart-based Gesellschaft für Wissensvermittlung über neue Medien und politische Bildung (GbR) (Partnership for the Exchange of Information Using New Media and Political Education). Please contact us with your questions or comments. Translation from German into English by twigg's Übersetzung deutsch-englisch.